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Torani Storm
Character Profile Torani Storm is one of the few 'non-humans' working for the Empress, and has become so bitter and twisted by cruelty and injustice dealt time and time again to her in her past, that she now has a completely twisted sense of morality. Good has become evil and evil has become good. Deep down, there is good in her still...you just have to look very, VERY hard to see it. History 'Orphaned' Torani was born towards the beginning of King Arthur’s reign over Britain, but her father never saw her birth. He was killed by King Pellinore, who in turn was then killed by her half brother, Agravaine, which started a feud between the two families. Her mother only survived for two days after the birth, before dying of illness brought on by the birth itself, so Torani was, in effect, an orphan her whole life. Morgana Le Fay - formerly Morgana Pendragon, sister of Arthur Pendragon and wife of King Lot, was angered at first by her husband’s betrayal (by fathering a child with another woman), and turned her back on Torani for the first five years of Torani’s life. Torani was, therefore raised by her half brother Gwaine, who was the only one of Lot’s other children to actually take pity on the girl. Being a grown man (and a vampire now,) he became more of a father-figure to her than a brotherly one, but he raised her and taught her how to live her life to the full, learning useful skills along the way, such as how to fight, how to use her magic as a froce for good. It wasn’t until Morgana saw Torani’s full potential (and her magical abilities) that she actually took an interest in the child, and began to teach her some of the darker aspects of her magic, and how she could use them as weapons. Being a High Priestess of the Triple Goddess, Morgana was a very powerful individual, and a good teacher to Torani, despite their past differences. However, Torani was worried about the use of such dark magic. Morgana insisted that it was merely for self-defence purposes and eventually talked her round to the idea. This didn’t stop her from encouraging Torani, at every given moment, however, to use her powers against others and give herself the advantage. Torani refused to hurt anyone, however, and soon Morgana gave up with her, leaving her to fend for herself. 'Immortality' However, when Torani was attacked by bandits when she was out riding one day, she was stabbed in the abdomen and left for dead. By the time Gwaine and Percivale found her, she was barely alive. Seeing no choice, Gwaine bit and transformed her into a vampire like himself, in order to save her life, but after two days of torture and agony as her body changed, Torani woke to find she’d now become a monster. B laming Gwaine for what she’d become, the two siblings had a blazing row before Torani packed her things and left, in the dead of night. Embracing the role of a High Priestess, using all the knowledge and experience that Morgana had taught her during her human life, Torani was dismayed to discover that the ways of the Old Religion had died out and she was now the last of her kind. This did not stop her from continuing her role as a High Priestess, however, although she was forced to abandon many of the traditions, such as living on the Isle of the Blessed, simply because in these more modern times, such traditions did not fit in. She travelled the world for several centuries before finally meeting a young woman named Morrigan, who was also travelling the world. 'Joining the Empire' Morrigan explained her plans for world domination to Torani, and promised her unlimited power and the respect that she’d fully earned and deserved (playing heavily on Torani’s simple desire to be loved by her family). Twisting and manipulating Torani, playing on her fears and offering her everything she had ever desired, in return for her loyalty, Morrigan had eventually moulded her own protégée, utterly loyal and subservient – Torani’s mind so twisted by Morrigan’s influence now that her entire sense of morality is completely inverted – good has become evil, and evil has become good. Morrigan kept true to her promise, giving Torani unlimited wealth and a substantial amount of power and influence over the Empire in return for her continued loyalty. And since then, Torani has never looked back or regretted her decision, even for a second. Personality Torani often appears to be vengeful, ruthless, embittered, cold and calculating. Having been moulded and twisted her entire life by those around her into believing that her evil actions are in fact for the benefit of the entire world, Torani is now under the impression that what she is doing is for the goodness of the Empire, and any enemy of the Empire must be stopped before ‘they’ can destroy the world. Despite her vindictive and unforgiving personality, however, Torani remains a powerful, intelligent and ferociously determined individual. Her darker characteristics are largely the product of external influences while her truer nature, although rarely displayed, is in fact one of immense compassion. This nature has arguably not disappeared due to the melancholy she sometimes shows and she does at times reveal a vulnerable side of herself, such as her shock and hurt on hearing of the deaths of friends, her deep conflict at seeing her half-brother Gwaine again after many centuries of believing him to be dead, her fear at being rendered powerless and her elation at being spared the usual death sentence whenever she has wronged the Empress. Magic and Abilities Torani has always possessed magic, even before she became a vampire, and has a wide repertoire of spells and enchantments at her disposal, that can be used with or without magical incantations. Such magic includes.... *Lighting fires both small (e.g: candles) and large (e.g: ten foot walls of flame) *Lifting people off their feet and slamming them backwards into objects. *Enchanting objects to become unnaturally heavy or feather light. *Giving inanimate objects lives of their own for short periods. *Grabbing and gripping things with her mind (very useful for choking someone). *Summoning small tornadoes that can be guided in any chosen direction. *Causing solid walls of rock (such as canyon walls, ceilings etc) to collapse *Teleporting herself short distances to escape trouble. *Telikinesis (moving objects with her mind. Nothing bigger than a suit of armour, however.) *Using an aging spell and holding it for up to four days - an incredible feat, considering the amount of energy used to cast the spell in the first place. Torani is also a seer and thus is able to see visions of the future at choice moments, although she has to concentrate hard in order to see anything of real significance. As a human, these visions often came to her as prophetic nightmares, which left her deeply disturbed, or caused her to suddenly wake in a panic. She hated this aspect of her magic – until she became a vampire. As much as she hated being a ‘bloodsucking monster’ as she now viewed herself as, she was glad that she no longer had to sleep – and as a result of that, did not have to suffer any more nightmares. Now she has mastered control of this power and can choose when she sees visions, although they do not always show themselves to her, and she has to concentrate hard, losing herself to the vision and effectively making herself an easy target as she’s doing so. She has also, a few times, demonstrated enough magical competence to wield the power of necromancy, a rarely-practiced art, to resurrect shades of those who have died, controlling them in order to do her bidding. They are merely shades of the people they once were, however, and have no memories, no emotions and no souls. An empty shell could be a more accurate description. Torani is also a skilled swordswoman and even before becoming a vampire and mastering her magical abilities, she managed to hold her own against a number of men attempting to raid Camelot. She even managed to later on overpower a knight who had insulted her and easily disarmed him twice. In the end, the knight only defeated her by using his own hidden magic, of which she was unaware. She even maintains that at some point, she bested her brother Gwaine with a sword, though he insisted the incident "did not happen" when Torani mentioned it once, and has continued to protest the point, even to this day. Even after becoming a powerful vampire and mastering her magic, she still remained a highly adept swordswoman, capable of fighting her way through numerous enemies, even when severely wounded. In addition to her magical abilities and combat skills, Torani has also proved time and again to be an extremely convincing actress who is able to hide her true nature from almost everyone around her – the only exceptions being the Empress and her half-brother Gwaine, who she was always close to, before her ‘corruption’. Facts and Trivia *Torani's proper title is actually "High Priestess of the Triple Goddess" and she is the last of her kind, as the rest of the followers of The Old Religion (aka worshipers of magic) died out back in the final days of King Arthur's reign. These days, magic is not worshipped as it once was, and so the Old Religion no longer exists. Torani still likes to keep her title, however, as a reminder of how her magic is the only constant companion she's ever had, and how it has never left her or let her down. Her magic is her only true and loyal friend. *Torani is the first and only Acolyte of the Empire who is not human. *Torani is also one of only two Acoltyes currently serving the Empress. The other is Cersei Lannister. *She used to have emerald green eyes before her transformation, and now, being a vegetarian, has ice blue eyes instead. *She was given a tattoo as a young child by her step mother, Morgana, who inked the Triple Goddess symbol (the triskele) onto her forearm so that all would know she was a servant of the Triple Goddess and served the Old Religion and its magic. After becoming a vampire, the tattoo was erased by the vampire venom coursing through her veins. Now, unable to replace this tattoo, she has taken to wearing the symbol on a pendant round her neck instead. The pendant is magically enchanted and can never be removed. It cannot be cut, severed, pulled over her head or broken. *She often wears blood red contact lenses to appear more intimidating. The contacts are also specially designed to glow in the dark, giving her an eerie, phantom-like appearance when standing in shadow (only the blood red glowing eyes can be seen - enough to scare even the toughest of warriors). *Being in close proximity to humans 24/7 and denying her thirst for so long has made Torani almost 'immune' to the scent of human blood now, and she no longer desires it - a relief to those she works with, who are virtually all human. Besides, Morrigan has forbidden her from feeding on humans, simply because almost the entire crew of the Empire is human, and there would be none left, if Torani were to feed on them regularly. Animal blood is much easier to come by, and satisfies Torani just as much as human blood would, so she does not complain about her lifestyle, as long as everyone's happy *Her distinguishing features include her distinctive and very evil “smirk”, her brilliant red contact lenses that cover even more startling ice blue eyes, plus her incredibly strong Irish accent. Also she refuses to wear anything but her black robes and cloak, unless in combat situations, when she dons an elaborate chainmail shirt and dragon scale armoured belt. Behind the Scenes Torani is the quarternary (4th Character) of Paradox Member and Admin Frankie. She is based on the likeness of Katie McGrath's character Morgana Pendragon from the BBC series Merlin. Category:The Empire Category:Historical Figures Category:Vampire